This book messed with me in a real way. It left me feeling very sad.
Impossible to say how without revealing the ending. But the whole book is…well it’s something. A woman whose trauma-informed behavior makes her not understand societal norms. The reader starts with that and slowly unpacks everything. Everything.
I’m usually nervous when writers try to write neurodiverse characters. I liked Motherless Brooklyn the second time around but am not a huge fan of how Lethem wrote Lionel Essrog. I’ve never been able to get through The Curious Incident of the Dog at Nighttime or Extremely Loud, Incredibly Close. Having family members on the spectrum makes me sharply critical of those that try these kinds of stories.
But Liz Nugent writes Sally in such an honest, tender, informed and sincere way. She’s been through a lot but Nugent refuses to let us see her as the victim. She’s also not a symbol of someone else’s emotionally-informed journey to “understanding.” She’s a real flesh-and-blood person and her story gripped me from beginning to end and really broke my heart.
Centered in this narrative is the idea of freedom. What does personal freedom feel like? Is someone free even though they’ve experienced horrible abuse? What about people who attempt to change their circumstances but cannot do so, so they adapt in the best ways that they can? What about the price of freedom being someone else’s life? This book hits that subject hard and left me thinking.
I would have read it in one sitting had life and time allowed. It’s quite good, one of the best things I’ve read in 2023.